Looking
for the Mother
Another toddler, the second in as many days, gone
wandering without clothes out into bone-shock
cold,
-30 wind chill. This one still alive, spotted and
brought
inside by a neighbour. Police are looking for the
mother.
Later in Longo’s, in the busy produce section,
this small
old man with pinkish juice flecked with seeds
dribbling
down his chin, evidence of a snatched piece of
fruit he
ducks his head in vain to conceal. Ragged
clothes, thin
and old—someone should tell him to wait at least
till he’s
in a quiet aisle and to stock his empty cart with
some items.
